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Heart of the South West Chief Executive welcomes Prime Ministerial commitment to grow tourism

VisitEngland Chief Executive, James Berresford and Heart of the South West LEP Chief Executive, Chris Garcia, today welcomed the Prime Minister’s visit to Cornwall to announce a five point plan to support tourism growth across the UK.

Chris Garcia was representing the six south west LEPs: Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly LEP, Dorset LEP, Gloucestershire LEP, Heart of the South West LEP, West of England LEP and Wiltshire LEP; in his role on the South West Tourism Programme Board. He said: “We welcome investment in tourism initiatives to attract more overseas visitors to the south west; and the five point plan for improvement in collaboration, skills & jobs, regulation, transport and welcome initiatives will bring added value across the region.”

VisitEngland’s Chief Executive James Berresford said: “The commitment by the Prime Minister today to grow tourism across the UK is further recognition of the enormous value and contribution of this industry, one of the decade’s biggest drivers of economic growth. Placing tourism at the heart of Government will do much to support plans to rebalance the economy. We will work closely with the new inter-ministerial group and our partners across the country to deliver on these commitments and drive growth across the regions by showcasing and developing the standout product on offer in this country to key domestic and international markets, improving connectivity, ensuring England remains globally competitive and providing world-class experiences for all visitors.”

“We have invested £57m of Government funds in English tourism over the past five years which has to date generated over £1.5 billion growth in visitor spending and created over 28,000 jobs. We aim to build on this success with both the Northern and South West Tourism Growth Funds, and the proposed Product Development Fund recommended in the Triennial Review of VisitEngland.”

As part of a £5m South West Tourism Growth Fund announced by Government, a range of activity will take place to grow tourism; deliver economic growth and boost export earnings in the South West of England.

James Berresford continued: “Our ambition for the South West Tourism Growth Fund is to work closely with VisitBritain and partner destinations to create an additional visitor spend of £60m, supporting the creation of 1,000 jobs to boost the South West visitor economy.”

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      David Ralph

      Chief Executive

      David Ralph started as Chief Executive of Heart of South West LEP at the beginning of June 2018. Previously, he had spent 5 years as CEO of the Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (D2N2) LEP from 2013 where he oversaw the development of the D2N2 Strategic Economic Plan and sector strategies, 3 Growth Deals with HM Government to deliver a £1billion capital investment programme, securing and implementing £200m ESIF programme, the Derby and Nottingham Enterprise Zone, the D2N2 Skills Deal and Time for Innovation programme, community fund and led the executive team to develop the HS2 East Midlands hub. He was also closely involved in the proposed North Midlands Devolution Deal and one of the key architects in establishing the Midlands Engine, chairing the officer steering group. Whilst in this role David was a NED of the Nottingham Enterprise Zone, and Marketing NG, the Outer Estates Foundation and a Governor of Nottingham College and on the advisory Board of Nottingham Business School.

      Before the East Midlands, David was CEO of the Have Gateway Partnership working closely with local stakeholders including the ports of Felixstowe, Harwich and Ipswich and BT Adadastral Park across Suffolk and Essex and prior to that was Chief Exec of the Barton Hill New Deal for Communities programme in Bristol and the Nelm Development Trust in Norwich.

      David is a keen sailor, walker and trail runner.